Alphatec Spine, Inc. Releases PureGen Osteoprogenitor Cell Allograft to Facilitate Bone Regeneration and Announces First Patient Procedure Performed in the World
BY EDITOR, OCTOBER 5, 2010

Alphatec Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq:ATEC), the parent company of Alphatec Spine, Inc., a medical device company that designs, develops, manufactures and markets products for the surgical treatment of spine disorders, with a focus on treating conditions related to the aging spine, today announced the release of its PureGen Osteoprogenitor Cell Allograft at the North American Spine Society Meeting (NASS) in Orlando, FL. PureGen is a highly concentrated, pure population of adult stem cells that originates in bone marrow and is collected from live, healthy donors for optimal cell functionality. Unlike stem cell products that are currently commercially available, which have an unknown population of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and are harvested from cadaveric donor tissue, PureGen delivers a similar potency of a pure adult MSCs without the need for cultural expansion. PureGen is the first pure adult stem cell to be released in the spinal market.

Dr. Carl Lauryssen, a Neurosurgeon and Director of Research and Education at Olympia Medical Center in Los Angeles, CA, completed the first procedure using PureGen. Pablo Pazmino, M.D. assisted in the surgery. Dr. Lauryssen has twice been awarded the Young Investigator Award from the American Association of Neurological Surgeons for his work on cervical disorders and stem cell research. The patient underwent a L4-S1 posterolateral fusion. "I believe in the promise of stem cells for treating spinal disorders as they pose minimal inflammatory side effects and have the capacity to repair and regenerate bone. I also believe the PureGen cell has the potential for providing surgeons with better clinical outcomes in spinal fusion," stated Dr. Lauryssen.

"We are committed to developing meaningful biologics solutions to improve surgical outcomes in the spine market, and this exciting new stem cell product has an enormous amount of potential. The PureGen osteoprogenitor cell is an extremely powerful cell that has both pluripotent potential and osteogenic differentiation. Our preclinical results underscore the ability of this cell to differentiate to bone faster and more efficiently than either bone marrow aspirate or mesenchymal stem cells," said Dirk Kuyper, the Company's President and CEO. Mr. Kuyper added, "It's exciting to add this significantly differentiated product to our portfolio. The PureGen osteoprogenitor cell will provide Alphatec Spine with an excellent position in the growing market of stem cell therapies for treating disorders of the spine, and will be a strong complement to the other innovative technologies in our core fusion and aging spine portfolios."

The PureGen osteoprogenitor cell allograft facilitates bone fusion, and is marketed exclusively by Alphatec Spine. PureGen is an adult stem cell that provides cellular and growth factors needed for osteogenesis, without the potential complications of autograft. Applied at the site of a musculoskeletal defect, PureGen mimics the regenerative environment of youthful tissues by increasing the concentration of stem cells available to repair tissue and build bone.